1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a damping unit and a refrigerator having the same. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a damping unit and a refrigerator having the same, which can stably rotate a home bar door and can control the rotational speed of the home bar door.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a refrigerator is an appliance that supplies cold air to a storage compartment storing various foodstuffs so as to allow the foodstuffs to be kept in a fresh state at a low temperature condition. The refrigerator includes a freezing compartment maintained at the temperature below the freezing temperature and a refrigerating compartment maintained at the temperature slightly above the freezing temperature.
Recently, various types of refrigerators, such as a Top Mounted Freezer (TMF) type refrigerator having a freezing compartment at an upper portion of the refrigerator, a Bottom Mounted Freezer (BMF) type refrigerator having the freezing compartment at a lower portion of the refrigerator, and a Side By Side (SBS) type refrigerator having the freezing compartment at one side of the refrigerator, have been developed to store various foodstuffs therein.
To suit improvements in human life style, refrigerators are manufactured in a large size and are equipped with various functions. A home bar is installed in a door of the refrigerator to allow a user to take out beverages or drinks stored in the refrigerator without opening the door.
Such a home bar includes a home bar door to open/close an opening that is formed by removing a part of a refrigerator door such that the interior of the refrigerator is communicated with the exterior of the refrigerator, and a basket fixed to an inner portion of the home bar door to store beverages or drinks therein.
In general, in order to open/close the opening formed in the refrigerator door, the home bar door is rotatably connected to a front portion of the refrigerator door by upper and lower link units such that the home bar door can rotate at an angle of 90 degrees.
However, when the home bar door having the above structure is open, the link units having the foldable structure may generate noise due to ware thereof. In addition, the link units are exposed to the outside, so that the aesthetic appearance of the refrigerator may deteriorate.
In order to solve the above problem, a new home bar door capable of improving the aesthetic appearance of the refrigerator has been proposed. According to the home bar door, rod-shape hinges protrude at both sides of a lower end of the home bar door, and the hinges are rotatably inserted into hinge holes formed at both sides of a lower end portion of the opening, so that the home bar door rotates about the hinge shafts to open/close the opening.
In addition, a home bar door including a damping unit equipped with an oil damper and provided on hinge shafts has been developed. The home bar door is slowly opened or closed due to the damping unit so that noise can be reduced and the opening/closing operation of the home bar door can be smoothly achieved when the home bar door is rotatably moved up and down about the hinge shafts.
However, the damping unit having the oil damper may not constantly rotate because flow resistance of oil may vary depending on oil viscosity and temperature variation, so that the home bar door may not be stably rotated and performance of the damping unit may be gradually degraded.
In addition, the damping unit having the oil damper may apply deceleration resistance to the hinge shafts when the home bar door is rotatably moved up and down. Thus, resistance force of the oil damper is added to the weight of the home bar door when the home bar door is rotatably moved up to close the opening, so that the user must apply stronger force to the home bar door to operate the home bar door.
Further, the damping unit having the oil damper may not control the rotational speed of the home bar door when the home bar door is rotatably moved up and down, so that the home bar door does not accommodate the demand of users.